


we should just kiss (like real people do)

by IncandescentAntelope



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Skater Victor Nikiforov, Strangers to Lovers, the summary is a pun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29910222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncandescentAntelope/pseuds/IncandescentAntelope
Summary: Viktor is tired of trying and finds himself in Hasetsu.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 23
Kudos: 99





	we should just kiss (like real people do)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RedHead110](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHead110/gifts).



> this is a commission for RedHead110! Thank you so much, my dear! Along with the prompt, I was inspired by [ this art by Savi_yoi!](https://twitter.com/Savi_yoi/status/1186121516502704129?s=20)
> 
> All credit for Chris's partner's name to lovely [Tess!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewalrus_said/pseuds/thewalrus_said)

“ _Irasshaimase!”_

Viktor smiled at Hiroko as he walked back through the main hall of the onsen. It had been a long day of exploration and seaside wandering, both he and Makkachin were in desperate need of relaxation and recovery.

“ _Arigatou!_ ” Viktor chirped, waving as he passed, heading for his guest room down the hall. It was a quaint little inn; the establishment had been given sparkling reviews from Christophe after his weekend getaway with his Mat. He had celebrated his once rival’s exit from singledom, but mourned the loss of their ‘no strings attached’ agreement behind closed doors.

It wasn’t Mat that he envied, it was Chris.

He dropped his bag at the door and sighed, sliding the paper divider shut. Maybe he could find someone too, when the stars aligned for him. 

Makkachin fell with a thump into her bed in the corner, clearly satisfied to nap off the exhaustion. But Viktor was far more interested in soaking the ache out of his bones. Far be it from one to not take advantage of the onsen after a long day of practicing Japanese with the locals.

Changed into his emerald green jinbei, Viktor made his way to the baths, following the quite handy signs. They had been recently translated into English, if the different shade of laminated paper was any clue. He showered and washed his hair carefully, saying a small prayer to whoever was listening that his hair would survive a vacation without his rigorous haircare routine. 

Sinking into the water was not a task easily taken, and Viktor had learned as much on his first attempt. His feet were still tender. He worked himself in slowly, and waded to the back of the outdoor bath. It was a beautiful night, the clouds had parted just perfectly, revealing the sparkling expanse of stars above… and Viktor felt himself drifting off, waiting for a falling star.

“Viktor-san?” a distant voice pleaded with him. It sounded far-off and garbled, as if it was coming through a radio from the next room. “Viktor-san, you have to get out.” Viktor furrowed his brow, shivering at the bursts of pain rocketing through his temples. 

He was unceremoniously pulled out of the onsen, his bare rear on the cold stone. He blinked lazily up at the man who had pulled him out, finding wonderfully deep brown eyes behind blue-rimmed glasses. He was wearing the uniform he had seen on other employees, but he hadn’t seen _him_ before. He would have noticed. Blue glasses boy was too cute to forget. 

“Hi~” Viktor mumbled, his vision swimming. “What’s your name? You’re pretty.”

Blue glasses boy blushed— that was very cute. “I’m Yuuri. I work here. Are you alright?” 

Viktor nodded slowly, wincing at the pain behind his eyes. “Much better now that you’re here, Yuuuuuuri.” His body felt heavy and leaden, too warm, down to the soles of his feet. “Such a handsome man to attend to me~”

Yuuri laughed- a gorgeous sound. Yuuri had a perfect laugh. “You should see yourself, Viktor-san.”

Viktor’s mouth babbled on without his control. “No, no no no _-san_. Just Viktor? Please?” His head felt too light to bear the hurt of being just another foreigner to Pretty Yuuri. He pleaded with his eyes, the best he could, only distantly aware that he was entirely naked while Pretty Yuuri was (regrettably) clothed. 

A small smile crept over Yuuri’s mouth after a moment. 

“Just Viktor.”

* * *

“Yuuri!” Viktor spotted his bespectacled savior the next morning, looking particularly disheveled, dark circles under his eyes. It didn’t make him any less attractive— and Viktor envied him for that. He waved him over, beaming brightly over his breakfast. “Come eat with me!”

Yuuri smiled, a tired thing that made Viktor swoon in his seat. He weaved between tables with a resigned smile on his mouth, an audible sigh reaching Viktor’s ears. “Viktor, I have to work.”

“Hiroko won’t mind. When do you finish work today, Yuuri?” Viktor asked, his spoon tapping against his lower lip. It was an effective tactic, and it had Yuuri pointedly staring at his lips. “I want to go soak again but I don’t want to pass out and I only trust my safety to you, Prince Charming.”

Yuuri snorted a laugh. “You’re impossible. Far too much work for one man to handle.”

The tone of it made it clear he was joking, and the part of Viktor’s heart that had already decided it was madly in love with Yuuri swooned. “Let no one say I didn’t try to keep you busy.”

“And don’t let her hear you calling her Hiroko.” Yuuri added in a conspiratorial whisper. “I’m sure she’s already asked you to call her okaasan.”

Viktor flushed and smiled, knowing he’d been caught. He could feel the shock of something just beneath his skin, fixated in the tips of his fingers, just centimeters from Yuuri’s. He wanted to touch him— and by god, as long as Yuuri wanted it, he would do it. 

“Please, Yuuri? Soak with me?” Viktor asked again, explicitly.

Yuuri’s lip worked its way back between his teeth, and Viktor ached to pull it free, to feel the plump swell of Yuuri’s skin against his own. 

“I finish at nine… meet me there?” 

He could barely stand another day of sightseeing, trying a different ramen stand for lunch. All he could think about was Yuuri, about knowing him… anything to be close to him. He felt silly, but giddy like a schoolboy when it was finally time to meet Yuuri, to soak again. 

Yuuri was waiting outside, sitting on the edge of the water with a bottle of sake and two cups. He looked beautiful in the nighttime air, his eyes sparkling with the orange lights strung around the bath. They made small talk and stepped in together, and as much as he thought he would have, he didn’t look below Yuuri’s waist, drawn instead to his smile, his hands, his eyes. 

“It’s a beautiful night,” Yuuri murmured under his breath as he sipped his sake. His mouth curved prettily around his cup, a quick tongue chasing an errant drop on his lower lip.

“It is… there are more stars here.”

“They’re the same stars as the ones in Russia, Viktor.” 

“No, they aren’t…” Viktor breathed, his tongue loose with alcohol. “Not really.”

Viktor could feel Yuuri’s eyes on him, that warm, rich brown gaze felt like honey under his skin. There was a long, pregnant pause before Yuuri spoke again, a careful, measured question. “Why did you come to Japan, Viktor?”

“I… was tired. Of trying.” Viktor answered honestly, but with this, he was wholly unable to blame the sake. 

“Trying?” Yuuri repeated, one inky brow arched up on his forehead. Viktor swallowed thickly and took another sip of his drink. 

“Trying…” Viktor mulled the word over, rolling it around on his tongue like wine. “Trying to be someone I’m not.” There was a distant car horn, the low plinking sound of the bamboo water well. Viktor felt the urge to hold his breath, daring himself to remain quiet. 

“Are you someone you’re proud of?”

“No.”

Viktor felt his heart shuddering against his ribs, a painful tightness threatening to choke him. How long had it been that he could be so free, so truthful? Admitting the truth _hurt_ , a tender place deep in him that hadn’t been touched in months, years. 

“I’m sorry.” Yuuri’s voice broke through and he smiled instinctively, a well-practiced reflex. 

“It’s okay.”

There was another heady pause, another long moment. Steam rose into the air, curling like smoke up into the night sky. 

“It’s not.” The refutation was soft, gentle… but it landed like a wrecking ball in Viktor’s chest. “It’s not okay.”

“It’s hard to coexist with the person I am for the cameras...” The floodgates were open and Viktor could hardly do much than let it flow. “The man in photos, in interviews. The articles. It’s not me.”

Yuuri was quiet for a moment, humming softly as a brilliant streak of starlight bisected the glittering sky above. “Shooting star.” Viktor choked on the tears he hadn’t shed yet. “It’s not really a star... something burning on its way down.”

“I can relate.” Viktor managed, his voice only a little shaky. 

Yuuri stared at him in the warm lamplight. “Even if you can. Maybe that means you can be something new, now that you’re here.” He nodded up at the sky, his eyes heavy in a painful way. “That star gets to be something new, now that it burned up. Maybe that can be you, too.”

Viktor stifled a sob, but when Yuuri’s hand brushed against his under the water, he held it tightly.

* * *

“Viktor,” Yuuri asked a few nights later, when the evening dinner rush was finally over. “What would you say to a sakura viewing? Tomorrow afternoon?”

Viktor blinked at him, feeling intoxicated, enraptured completely. “Yuuri, are you asking me out on a date?” 

“I…” Yuuri’s cheeks were a beautiful shade of red, his lower lip bitten between his teeth. “Would you say yes if I was?”

Viktor felt his cheeks straining with his smile, bright and wide and uncontrollable. “Yes! Yes, a million yeses!” He babbled excitedly, feeling something joyful bubbling out of his chest. “What should I wear? Is it going to be warm tomorrow?”

Yuuri had rested his cheek in his hand, his elbow propped up on the table between them. It was difficult to explain the look on Yuuri’s face, a combination of tired and happy, a half-cocked smile and hooded eyes. Viktor’s hand shook with the effort of not touching, not reaching out to stroke his rounded cheek, brush his hair out of his eyes. 

“Mama will have something for you to wear.” Yuuri whispered softly, yawning and tucking further into the kotatsu. Viktor nodded, poured a cup of tea from the pot he had been nursing, and passed it to Yuuri, who was now folded over the table, already half-asleep and breathing deeply. 

Hiroko passed behind them, giving Viktor a smiling thumbs-up and laying a paper-wrapped package on the table beside him. Viktor unwrapped it slowly, gasping at the rich magenta fabric, swirling golden thread woven into it. 

“It looks like one of my costumes.” Viktor murmured under his breath, and Hiroko smiled. 

“Yuuri had it made for you.” She offered, and whatever remained of Viktor that hadn’t yet fallen for Yuuri was utterly, completely convinced. He was in over his head, precisely where he wanted to be. 

Yuuri was wearing something similar, when he met Viktor the next morning in the entry, but Viktor couldn’t look away from the elegant dark blue of Yuuri’s yukata. They looked like a matching pair, walking to the small park beside the ocean— and Viktor’s heart nearly burst with it. 

They settled under a canopy of cherry blossom trees, laying out the picnic Hiroko had packed for them. The sun filtered through the petals like shimmering gold, spraying Yuuri’s features with golden freckles. 

“You’re beautiful.” Viktor said, the praise coming out as effortless as his own breath.

“You said that the first time we met.” Yuuri said softly, though Viktor could feel some kind of understanding in his words. It didn’t feel begrudging, like it had before. A soft blush petal fluttered from a branch above, falling into Yuuri’s hair. Viktor reached out to brush it away without thinking. 

“Did I?” Viktor’s hand lingered in Yuuri’s hair, and Yuuri didn’t shrug him away. His hair was soft, warmed by the sun. “I don’t remember much of that night.”

“I’m not surprised.” Yuuri laughed, leaning into Viktor’s touch, his cheek brushing against Viktor’s wrist. There was a jolt, a sudden spark. It appeared that Yuuri had felt it— or something like it— as well, if the awed look on his face was any hint. 

“Yuuri…” Viktor breathed, frozen in place with Yuuri’s cheek still cradled in his hand. 

“Viktor.” Yuuri mirrored, a subconscious tongue flicking out over his lower lip. “Kiss me?” 

Viktor’s breath caught in his throat and he fell completely into Yuuri’s orbit, pulled in by gravity as inevitable as the sunrise. Their lips touched and Viktor was in heaven, pressing himself as close to Yuuri as he could. They moved in perfect concert with each other, a single, seamless being. Yuuri was soft against him, but firm, confident in the kiss. 

It only broke when Yuuri pulled away, something like embarrassment on his features. 

“Public affection is a bit much here. In Japan.” Yuuri offered as his explanation and Viktor flushed to the tips of his ears. “I didn’t know if you would… want to kiss me. I’m not a famous skater.”

“Famous figure skaters aren’t that great.” Viktor laughed, feeling light and buoyant. 

“I know one pretty great one.” Yuuri laughed, leaning forward and lacing his fingers with Viktor’s. “But I think I like _Viktor_ more.”

The emphasis meant more than the words could, and Viktor pulled Yuuri’s hand to his mouth. 

“I like Viktor more too.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! hope you enjoyed, my dears. 
> 
> <3 ia  
> [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/ia_theauthor) | [Tumblr](https://incandescentantelope.tumblr.com)


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